Template Data Feed and Ebay

[Geographicus]

Dear Miva Masters,

I have embarked on the challenging quest of creating a data feed template for ebay uploads to my ebay store via Turbo Lister. I seem to have it working alright, but am having some trouble with category matching. Most of my categorys match up just fine, but some, for no apparent reason, don't. Could it have to do with the fact that some of my products are in multiple categories? How does the Template Data Feed module take into account products that are in multiple categories?

Kevin Brown

[wcw]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

It uses the first one it comes to. There is no primary category setting with products. You'll need to supply a category match for all of your categories.

[Geographicus]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

With some work and trial I have managed to make Template Data Feed work with eBay Turbolister bulk upload.

Here are some ideas and questions:

1. When I create my data feed I need to open it in Excel and resave it in CSV format for ebay to read it - any idea why??

2. It would be great if there were a feature in future versions of the Template Data Feed Module that allowed you to only export products that have been added after a certain date and time. This would make the data feed more useful when adding products to a service where you pay for each product you add - like ebay.

Any idea for work arounds?

Kevin

[wcw]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

There is no date field in the product records so there is no way to know what date a product was added.

[kayakbabe]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

I was told not so long ago that having a product last modified time was impossible.
However that is not true.

If you are using mysql for the Miva Merchant 5 database. It is easy to add an field within the database. Set it to DATESTAMP as the data type.

Then you can use Ray Yates toolkit to grab the contents of that field even though it is not a "miva" field.

I did this in my products table and every time an admin updates a product in my store, that field is auto updated by mysql itself. It sets it to the current server time stamp.

Thus my feeds now also have last modified dates for each product.

I also use the time stamp to provide a short feed of products modified in the last 7 days, that I use for rss feeds and the like.

I was always disappointed that Miva didn't ever include a timestamp on products. It never made sense.

I'm glad the new Merchant version allows some work around to actually get a datestamp.

I purposely didn't use the product custom fields and then use mysql to change the data type because the custom fields are not always updated when you change a price or some basic product info. However, I found that if I changed anything in the products, the product table itself always had it's row updated. Thus putting this datestamp on that table worked best.

[Red Flare]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

With some work and trial I have managed to make Template Data Feed work with eBay Turbolister bulk upload.

Here are some ideas and questions:

1. When I create my data feed I need to open it in Excel and resave it in CSV format for ebay to read it - any idea why??

2. It would be great if there were a feature in future versions of the Template Data Feed Module that allowed you to only export products that have been added after a certain date and time. This would make the data feed more useful when adding products to a service where you pay for each product you add - like ebay.

Any idea for work arounds?

Kevin

I am using Weiland's template data feed too. Would you be so kind as to post your Header and Product field contents? If you do not want to post, please PM me. I would like to start using data feed module to upload to ebay via turbolister.

Thanks!

[wcw]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

Somebody sent me their ebay settings a long time ago and I looked high and low for them but could not find them. I guess I deleted that email. Sorry. Maybe Kevin or someone else will share. If he does, I'll include it in the FAQ of the install/usage doc.

[Geographicus]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

The best way to get them is to download ebay's free Turbo Lister. Create a product listing in Turbo Lister then export it to an csv file. Open the CSV vile in excel and voila, there are your most up to date headers. Or... It is a complicated pain in the ass, but the eBay headings you need for Template Data Feed are (in data feed format):

Site%^%Format%^%Currency%^%Title%^%SubtitleText%^% Custom Label%^%Description%^%Category 1%^%Category 2%^%Store Category%^%Store Category 2%^%PicURL%^%Quantity%^%LotSize%^%Duration%^%Start ing Price%^%Reserve Price%^%BIN Price%^%Private Auction%^%Counter%^%Buyer pays shipping%^%Payment Instructions%^%Specifying Shipping Costs%^%Insurance Option%^%Insurance Amount%^%Sales Tax Amount%^%Sales Tax State%^%Apply tax to total%^%Accept PayPal%^%PayPal Email Address%^%Accept MO Cashiers%^%Accept Personal Check%^%Accept Visa/Mastercard%^%Accept AmEx%^%Accept Discover%^%Accept Payment Other%^%Accept Payment Other Online%^%Accept COD%^%COD PrePay Delivery%^%Postal Transfer%^%Payment See Description%^%Accept Money Xfer%^%CCAccepted%^%CashOnPickupAccepted%^%MoneyXf erAccepted%^%MoneyXferAcceptedinCheckout%^%Ship-To Option%^%Escrow%^%BuyerPaysFixed%^%Location - City/State%^%Location - Country%^%Title Bar Image%^%Gallery1.Gallery%^%Gallery Featured%^%FeaturedFirstDuration%^%Gallery URL%^%PicInDesc%^%PhotoOneRadio%^%PhotoOneURL%^%Ga llery2.GalleryPlus%^%Bold%^%MotorsGermanySearchabl e%^%Border%^%LE.Highlight%^%Featured Plus%^%Home Page Featured%^%Subtitle in search results%^%Gift Icon%^%DepositType%^%DepositAmount%^%ShippingRate% ^%ShippingCarrier%^%ShippingType%^%ShippingPackage %^%ShippingIrregular%^%ShippingWeightUnit%^%Weight Major%^%WeightMinor%^%MeasurementUnit%^%CODCost%^% PackageDimension%^%ShipFromZipCode%^%PackagingHand lingCosts%^%Year%^%MakeCode%^%ModelCode%^%EngineCo de%^%ThemeId%^%LayoutId%^%AutoPay%^%Apply Multi-item Shipping Discount%^%Attributes%^%Package Length%^%Package Width%^%Package Depth%^%ShippingServiceOptions%^%VATPercent%^%Prod uctID%^%UseStockPhotoURLAsGallery%^%IncludeStockPh otoURL%^%IncludeProductInfo%^%UniqueIdentifier%^%G iftIcon.GiftWrap%^%GiftIcon.GiftExpressShipping%^% GiftIcon.GiftShipToRecipient%^%InternationalShippi ngServiceOptions%^%Ship-To Locations%^%Zip%^%NowAndNew%^%BuyerRequirements/LinkedPayPalAccount%^%PM.PaisaPayAccepted%^%PaisaP ayEscrowEMI%^%LE.ProPackBundle%^%BestOfferEnabled% ^%LiveAuctionDetails/LotNumber%^%LiveAuctionDetails/SellerSalesNumber%^%LiveAuctionDetails/LowEstimate%^%LiveAuctionDetails/HighEstimate%^%LiveAuctionDetails/eBayBatchNumber%^%LiveAuctionDetails/eBayItemInBatch%^%LiveAuctionDetails/ScheduleID%^%LiveAuctionDetails/UserCatalogID%^%Item.ExportedImages%^%PhotoDisplay Type%^%TaxTable%^%LoanCheck%^%CashInPerson%^%Hours ToDeposit%^%DaysToFullPayment%^%UserHostedOptimize PictureWellBitmap%^%BuyerResponsibleForShipping%^% GetItFast%^%DispatchTimeMax%^%CharityID%^%CharityN ame%^%DonationPercentage%^%AutoDecline%^%ListingDe tails/MinimumBestOfferPrice%^%ListingDetails/MinimumBestOfferMessage%^%LE.ValuePackBundle%^%LE. ProPackPlusBundle%^%LE.BasicUpgradePackBundle%^%Lo calOnlyChk%^%ListingDetails/LocalListingDistance%^%SkypeChat%^%SkypeVoice%^%Sk ypeName%^%ContactPrimaryPhone%^%ContactSecondaryPh one%^%LocationInfo%^%ExtendedSellerContactDetails/ClassifiedAdContactByEmailEnabled%^%ppl_PhoneEnabl ed%^%BuyerRequirements/ShipToRegistrationCountry%^%BuyerRequirements/ZeroFeedbackScore%^%BuyerRequirements/MinimumFeedbackScore%^%BuyerRequirements/MaximumUnpaidItemStrikes%^%BuyerRequirements/MaximumItemRequirements/MaximumItemCount%^%BuyerRequirements/MaximumItemRequirements/MinimumFeedbackScore%^%BuyerRequirements/VerifiedUserRequirements/VerifiedUser%^%BuyerRequirements/VerifiedUserRequirements/MinimumFeedbackScore%^%DisableBuyerRequirements%^% Domestic Insurance Option%^%Domestic Insurance Amount%^%InternationalShippingType%^%International PackagingHandlingCosts%^%ProStores Name%^%ProStores Enabled%^%Domestic Profile Discount%^%International Profile Discount%^%Apply Profile Domestic%^%Apply Profile International%^%SellerTags%^%AutoAccept%^%ListingD etails/BestOfferAutoAcceptPrice%^%PromoteCBT%^%ReturnsAcc epted%^%ReturnsWithin%^%Refund%^%ShippingCostPaidB y%^%WarrantyOffered%^%WarrantyType%^%WarrantyDurat ion%^%ReturnsDetail

[wcw]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

Thanks. What does the product section tokens look like to match those columns?

[Geographicus]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

A nightmare. Long strings of code comprehensible only to ebay. I believe that some of the most important information you need to list items is also proprietary to each client, so I can't really share it here. The only way to get it is to download from Turbolister. Ebay Listing is complicated. You also need to set up an indepth category matching system.

[wcw]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

So someone could copy the header section above into the header and product sections. Then in the product section, replace the column name with the token for that column. For example, The word Title would be replaced with %product:name%. Obviously not all of those columns would be used. So the word would be replaced with blank. So where you see %^%Category 2%^% you would wipe out the word so it would be %^%%^%. Would that work?

[kayakbabe]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

While I think Weilands datafeed serves a lot of purposes and is a good product.
I also needed more advanced solutions than his datafeeder could provide. It sounds like you are a special case and may need more advanced features that most everyone else doesn't.

The reason i could not use Weilands data feed is partly the same as your reason #1.

1. When I create my data feed I need to open it in Excel and resave it in CSV format for ebay to read it - any idea why?

I needed to specify the document type. Weilands datafeed (at least the older version I had, don't know if the new version will allow you to override the miva default for the store), wouldn't let me declare the page headers as a text or xml file. It always output html page headers. Those document headers are the key to whether the file you are generating is known to other machines as an html page, a text file, an excell, word doc, whatever. Using miva script in a page template you can override the store default doc type and page header output. This is 'invisible' code that is used between machines to tell the computers what kind of document it is passing on or getting.

Also your number 2 reason is why I chose a different solution. By using store morph pages as the basis of your 'template' and some creative use of toolkit and toolbelt, you can get the list of products you want.

I needed a highly customizable solution as I am putting out about 9 different feed formats each with varieties of feeds within that format.

For most people The basic datafeed modules will work great. But if you want to get some really bizarre, specialized, or very custom info out of miva and into a variety of formats and page types, you should consider talking to Ray about his feed tool. It really is 100% customizable. Once you understand how it works, (it's not for the faint of heart, and not for someone who doesn't want to get down and dirty with storemorph pages), but you can get out of it anything you want.

[Red Flare]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

So someone could copy the header section above into the header and product sections. Then in the product section, replace the column name with the token for that column. For example, The word Title would be replaced with %product:name%. Obviously not all of those columns would be used. So the word would be replaced with blank. So where you see %^%Category 2%^% you would wipe out the word so it would be %^%%^%. Would that work?

Sounds like a nightmare.

William, if you ever get the information of what to put into the product section, would you please let us all know?

thanks!

[wcw]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

I think like Kevin said, use the turbolister to export. Then see what is filled in and what is not. Then do the replacements as I said above. Some would be blank. Some would be the same for all products. Then the others would be the template tokens that replace data for each record.

[kayakbabe]

Re: Template Data Feed and Ebay

Not a nightmare, but not for the faint of heart either.

Can Weilands datafeed allow you insert storemorph code?

perhaps you can insert

<MvASSIGN NAME="l.ok" VALUE="{ miva_output_header( 'Content-Type', 'text/csv' ) }">

would let your browser know its not html and is a text file with mime type of csv. It should save properly. I have used content types of text/css and text/javascript and text/xml but I have not yet used text/csv.. though it is a valid content type according to the HTTP/1.1 specification

You might need to use MvEval instead. if you search the forum for miva_output_header you'll find references.

Of course it all hinges on if the datafeed will allow you to do it. If you can insert storemorph code and not just those %% type tokens.. then you probably can.